The escort Markus Howardof Baskoniayou can play for Puerto Ricoafter the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) approved the change in sports citizenship, sports sources reported on Thursday.
Howard25 years old and daughter of Puerto Rican Noemí Santana and brother of point guard Jordan Howardto represent Puerto Rico In the last World Cup, he represented USA in the junior under-16 and under-17 teams, in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
However, as explained in a statement by the president of the Basketball Federation of Puerto Ricoyum Ramos“after a long process” achieved that Howard may leave the national team USA and moved to Puerto Rico.
“After a long process, this is definitely good news and a big contribution for our National Team. We are talking about one of the best scorers in the European league,” Ramos highlighted.
For now, Howard is averaging 19.5 points per game in the ACB League. In the most recent match, he scored 30 points in Baskonia’s loss against Básquet Girona.
“Marcus He has become one of the best players in Europe and for us it is a luxury to have him. His offensive level will raise the expectations of our team,” added the general manager of the Puerto Rican team, former international point guard Carlos. Stream.
Expected Howard make your debut with Puerto Rico on the Caribbean island, when it hosts one of four tournaments from July 2 to 7 FIBA men’s Olympic qualification and that will give one place for each place for the Olympic Games. Paris 2024.
Twenty-four teams will compete in those four tournaments. Nineteen of them are classified by worldwhich is disputed in Philippines, Japanese and Indonesia this year, and the remaining five are the winners of the Prequalifiers Olympics FIBA in August.
In Puerto Rico the national teams will fight for that Olympic pass Lithuania, Italy, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Bahrain and the host country.
The last time Puerto Rico held an event of this magnitude is in Pre-Olympic of Americas 2003, when legendary center José ‘Piculín’ Ortiz He guided the Puerto Rican team to qualify for Athens 2004 in Canada with a triple-double.
Source: La Verdad
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